Hello everyone my name is Anja, I am in my fourth year here at UBC and I am majoring in Gender, Race and Social Justice. I am from Vancouver originally but my family has not been here very long. My dad is Australian and my mom is from Germany with her family coming over to Canada to start a new life that was not possible in Germany at that time. I have a wide range of interests in many things like music, books, movies, tv shows and sports to name a few. This makes it hard for me to pick a favourite in anything as there is too much for me to choose from. This also includes classes so I often find it hard to narrow down my classes because there are so many that interest me here at UBC.

For hobbies I love being active and outside, as well as doing creative things that keep my hands busy. Soccer is my main sport but I also snowboard, bike, kayak and rock climb. Being in Vancouver means that I have lots of great mountains so I also go hiking with my friends and dog when I have time.

I am a doing a minor in Latin American Studies which is part of the reason that I am taking this course this semester. Besides having this class for my minor I am also very interested in this course material. When I first started studying in post secondary I took some Latin America courses and I have not stopped taking them since because I found them so interesting. Latin America is such a diverse place full of so much history and culture that I love learning about it. For this course I am excited to go more in depth into Indigeneity. I have studied indigenous groups in Latin America’s past and present a bit in previous courses, looking at many of their struggles that began with the arrival of the Spaniards and continue today. This course should help expand my knowledge and understanding on this topic as it looks at how the European view of indigenous cultures, societies, and peoples have caused problems and shape the treatment of them. The books look very interesting and I am not really certain what to expect with them.